Californians, we've been lied to our whole lives. The Midwest is about as flat as a buffalo's back. Todd promised us Iowa has more elevation gain than Colorado. I have not fact checked but after today I believe it.

We took our bikes in to Albrecht's bike shop in downtown Sioux City before heading out because my bike's been feeling kinda funny from time to time, like I'm grinding something deep in some bearings. Turned out I had massacred the chain these last 1700 miles or so, so Kelly the Bike Mechanic threw a new one on there.

Iowa is, however, as bucolic as you'd expect and there's baby corn everywhere, little six inch stalks that'll be ten times the size once RAGBRAI rolls around. It was hot and I was pretty scared of repeating the overheating I'd cooked myself into on the way to White River so I took it really slow. It's hard to even sit in the shade here though cause the flies are so bad. And have I mentioned the mosquitoes bite through spandex? Insatiable, horrible beasts.

Well Rachel and I took slightly different routes and both ended up having to take pretty major detours to avoid dirt roads. I went up by Storm Lake.

Our warm showers host, a corn farmer, fed us another fantastic meal. We're so spoiled on this trip; people are way too good to us.